Highly Improbable
by Shiho Hahnenfuss
Summary: [endless future] A MiguShiho ficlet collective. From the days of youth to the nights of war, to the dawning era of peace.[no. 50: timeless]
1. Fool's Luck

**Disclaimer:** Gundam SEED and all its characters, mecha, worlds and other components belong to someone else. I own a laptop.**  
**

**A/N: **This is (or will be) a loose collection of oneshots and miniseries done for the endless-future LJ community's fic challenge. I chose to work with Set #2's themes for exploring the romantic pairing of Shiho Hahnenfuss and Miguel Ayman. Yes, I know they never met in canon. Yes, I know Miguel is most likely dead. Yes, this is a Very Random Pairing. Feel free to turn back anytime.

Theme 43: 'fortune favors the brave'

_A day before the Battle of Boaz, Shiho reflects on her last encounter with a man she once knew_.

Fool's Luck 

The humming drone of machinery and engines is lulling, an accompaniment to the quiet that pervades the battleship at this hour. Only the patter of footsteps breaks the monotony every now and then.  
There is nothing else to do; they are waiting for the enemy, lamps of vigilance lit at the eleventh hour for the unwelcome groom.

She touches her fingertips to the glass and looks out at the abyss beyond.

_Space is the worst battlefield you can lose in,_ he told her once. _On Earth, on solid ground, a cockpit hit ain't always fatal; blast shielding, explosion vents out the back. An eject button, and a parachute, if you're fighting in open sky. Swimming, on open sea. Even with a busted spacesuit, or a broken helmet. As long as there's air, you got hope._

_But out there? Explosive decompression. Pop. You're screwed._

_You're going out there yourself in a few days_, she said, tone sharper than intended. _What if you… _

The unspoken word hung in the air. He had smiled that infuriating smile, patted her lightly on the head.

_Won't happen_, he replied. _Fortune favors the brave.  
_

She had swatted his hand away and frowned, annoyance warring with concern. _More like the foolish. And if you're going to trade clichéd quotes, here's another; pride comes before a fall._

He chuckled. _That too, that too… But there's truth in it, isn't there?_

_Just… be careful. Please?_

_…Can't possibly die with this much to live for, can I._ A grin and a salacious wink, eliciting a blush. Then the usual stammered comeback, and his lighthearted teasing once more.

Her fingers leave the cold glass, rubbing at the warm moisture on her face.

_'Fortune favors the brave'… _

Turning away from the viewport, she inhales slowly, her shoulders sagging with released breath. A palm resting against the sill.

_…was it that you didn't have enough of the former, Miguel, or too much of the latter?_

The abyss does not answer.


	2. Industry

**Disclaimer:** Gundam SEED and all its characters, mecha, worlds and other components belong to someone else. I own a little plastic model.

**A/N:** It's occurred to me that technically, the two never could have met in academy days if one followed the story of Suit CD 4 (i.e: Miguel only meets Athrun and co. after their transfer to the Klueze squad). Therefore for the purposes of this timeline, Suit CD 4's plot does not exist. (How was that graduation picture with Miguel in it taken, anyway?)

Theme 32: 'self-esteem'

_Miguel attempts to offer sage advice._

Industry

"Your problem," he drawls, "is that you don't give yourself enough credit."

She spares his head and shoulders a puzzled glance above the rim of her book before flicking her eyes back to the text.

"….I don't quite understand."

"A-hah. That's where the root of it is, see?" He slides off the edge of the table and jerks a thumb at the haphazard stack of hardcovers and datapads beside her. "You just don't get that there's no _need_ for you to work that hard. You're talented as it is. You could spend the months up to the evaluations running round naked daily in the quad and you'd still get the red."

Silence.

"…okay, maybe not naked, but you get the idea?"

More silence. Then a sigh.

"Listen. Shiho. It doesn't matter whether you're first or eighty-ninth in academy rankings. What counts is whether you can think on your feet while you're out there trying not to get shot."

A thumb slowly turns the page.

"…wouldn't my ability to 'think on my feet' increase with as much preparation as possible?"

Silence again.

The rustling of worn paper.

"…Migu---"

"Catch!"

Her hand whips out and snatches the flying datapad from its path. Surprised, to say the least, she stares in incredulous wonder at his smug features.

"I'd say you're plenty prepared." The blonde smirks and waggles a finger. "It's just a matter of your self-esteem."

He supposed he deserved the projectile in the face after that.


	3. Timeless

**Disclaimer:** Gundam SEED and all its characters, mecha, worlds and other components belong to someone else. I own not much.

**A/N: **An even shorter piece, but the next will be the beginning of a miniseries.

Theme 50: 'peace'

_A moment of calm for two soldiers._

Timeless

Lying on a field one late afternoon.

Her head on his chest, rising and falling with every breath, eyes closed in repose. His fingers carefully tangled among strands of hair, uniquely tactile, tracing lazy lines from the fine tufts at the base to the thick flow above.

Scent teasing his senses; from the unfurling flowers strewn across the grass, perhaps, or the one lying within his reach, slender petal-fingers curled against young leaves poking from the soil. An open book, pages barely worn, one end resting on the peak of her nose, forming a gentle incline leading to starched and rumpled cloth. It moves up and down in tandem with his breathing and hers.

A tiny leaf wafts by on a breeze; it settles on her cheek and she frowns, turning her head away. His mirth comes in a quiet smile, for once, as he brushes it off for her with a finger and watches her lips curl the tiniest bit under the shade.

He decides that this is what it means to have peace.


End file.
